14U Boys County Cup Finals

Coaches: Stuart Murray and Oli Jones

Team: Joseph Knightley, Josh Savu, Sennan Ramanah-Beck, Tom Horton, and Isaac Bond

The boys qualified for the 14U County Cup National Finals, which took place at Nottingham Tennis Centre. Unfortunately, in the lead-up to the event, the team lost one of its players due to injury, resulting in a late reshuffle of the squad. The boys were drawn in a group alongside Dorset, Middlesex, and Cambridgeshire. On day one, they faced Cambridgeshire and Dorset.

Against Cambridgeshire, the boys competed strongly in the singles, finishing level at 2–2. The doubles were another tight battle, but unfortunately the team lost both matches to finish with a 4–2 defeat.

The boys then went straight back on court to face Dorset in the singles. Once again, all matches were closely contested and the tie stood at 2–2 after the singles rubbers.

The following day, the team returned to complete the doubles against Dorset. The boys won the number one doubles but lost at number two, meaning the match would be decided by a shootout. Despite a great effort, the boys narrowly lost the deciding tiebreak.

Next up was the final round-robin match against Middlesex. The team lost 6–0, although many of the matches were extremely close and could easily have gone the other way.

In the final match of the weekend, the boys played Leicestershire in the 7th/8th place play-off on Sunday. It was another tightly contested encounter, with the score level at 2–2 after the singles.

The boys won the number two doubles comfortably and then produced a dramatic finish in the number one doubles, winning 15–13 in a third-set tiebreak, a fantastic way to end the weekend and secure 7th place nationally.

“The boys were amazing all weekend, battling hard and showing a lot of heart over the three days. They had to deal with some adversity through the weekend, but it actually helped bring the team closer together. Well done to the players and thank you to the coaches for all their hard work.” - Simon Thornewill, County Lead.

A massive congratulations to the team. Getting these results against tough opposition, especially after injuries and set backs, is a huge achievement!